Antje Traue

Three significant events have occurred in 2013 that lend credence to the claim sci-fi is on its death bed as far as mainstream moviemaking goes. Star Trek Into Darkness continued to drive its franchise further and further away from its ideological roots in pursuit of money spinning breakneck action with a loose plot better suited to the Mission: Impossible series; the announcement that Star Wars will be revamped under the tutelage of the very same J.J. Abrams shows that rather than create new iconic franchises the executives would rather bleed dry the old ones; and Avatar will be graced by three sequels, suggesting a lack of faith in fresh ideas on the part of James ‘Mr. Innovation’ Cameron.

One of the better elements of Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen, and widely considered its best sequence, was that film’s opening credits montage, which forcefully played with pop culture iconography to impressive degrees. In a way, that sequence was an effective hint of what was to come with Snyder’s reboot of the Superman property; a cultural icon lavishly portrayed in a titanic fashion.